Development of material feeling presentation technology using generation and collapse of tactile Gestalt

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 20K23346
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: 1002:Human informatics, applied informatics and related fields
• Research Institution: Kyushu Institute of Technology
• Principal Investigator: Komura Hiraku 九州工業大学, 大学院工学研究院, 助教 (00881096)
• Project Period (FY): 2020-09-11 – 2023-03-31
• Keywords: Velvet Hand Illusion / 触錯覚現象 / 定式化 / Gestalt / NIRS / 心理物理学実験

Outline of Final Research Achievements

To elucidate the tactile Gestalt, we conducted experiments of Velvet Hand Illusion (VHI). VHI is an tactile illusion phenomenon in which people perceive the sensation of a smooth surface when they squeeze two wires set parallel to each other between both palm of hands and rub back and forth. We clarified the following three points. (1) A change in the recognition of the object surface occurs when the thermal stimulus and the VHI are superimposed. (2) The amount of illusion changes when the two wires reciprocate with a phase difference. Also, the relationship between the physical quantity (the phase difference between the two wires) and the psychological quantity can be explained by Gestalt's law of pragnanz. (3) The measurement of brain function by near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) showed that the activation of the left somatosensory cortex changes depending on the intensity of the illusion.

Free Research Field

人間情報学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

VHIの調査で明らかにした触覚のGestaltのモデルや，温冷刺激をVHIと重畳することで総和以上の感覚が生起するという発見は，今後の触覚ディスプレイ設計において重要な知見である．また，fNIRSでもVHI特有の脳活動が計測可能であることを示したことは，今後のGestalt研究において重要な成果である．例えば，Gestaltが生成したか否かの根拠となるため学術的意義があるといえる．触覚は我々の生活に無くてはならない感覚であり，モノの把持から人とのかかわりまで様々な状況において重要な役割を果たす．そのため，今回得た触覚の基礎的な知見は，触覚技術を人間社会に活かす基盤となるため社会的な意義がある．